Small-size shunting machine



Oct. 29, 1957 E. RIEDER 2,811,112

SMALL-SIZE SHUNTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 12, 1956 FIG. I.

INVEN TOR: Zp- SEQ/U United States Patent 2,811,112 SMALL-SIZE SHUNTING MACHINE Ernst Rieder, Liestal, Switzerland, assignor to Gottfried Loertscher, Basel, Switzerland Application January 12, 1956, Serial No. 558,751 Claims priority, application Germany January 24, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 105-27) This invention relates to small-size shunting machines, such as are needed at small railroad stations or on industrial grounds, where normal-sized shunting machines are not at disposal, for the shunting of one or a plurality of railroad cars at moderate speed.

The problem to be dealt with is that, on the one hand, a small-size shunting machine must be of such comparatively light weight that a few men are able to lift it without much effort onto or down from the track, but that, on the other hand, the push power of the machine depends upon its degree of adhesion, that is to say, upon the pressure which it exerts upon the track. To increase the degree of adhesion of a small-size shunting machine the latter may be moved beneath the undercarriage of the car to be shunted and then caused to somewhat lift the car by means of a suitable lifting device. In this way the weight of the car is partly transferred to the shunting machine and provides the wheels of the latter with the necessary power of adhesion. However, there is the drawback that the necessary light-weight construction of the shunting machine does not endure this transfer of weight for a long time. The natural consequence is a speedy break down of the shunting machine, as the shocks of operation, particularly during the passage of the machine through curves or over switches, are directly transferred from the car to the shunting machine.

There also is known to the art a small-size shunting machine in which the Weight of the car to be moved acts upon a four-sided link structure operatable in the direction of travel in such manner that the weight of the car does not press down upon the shunting machine, but is transferred, owing to the way in which the forces are working, only at the vertical surfaces of contact between the two vehicles. The additional load for the shunting machine, therefore, depends at every moment upon the force of push or pull active between the two vehicles. Whenever the direction of travel changes, or whenever the shunting machine pulls the brake, the force of push or pull goes down to nought, so that no transfer of weight takes place. The wheels of the shunting machine slide on the track because there is no steady transfer of weight.

The novelty of the invention resides in a construction in which the weight of the car to be moved is utilized to obtain the necessary degree of adhesion, but in which no rigid connection between the car and the shunting machine exists. This is achieved by the feature that the shunting machine merely engages the car at the springpressed and rotatable buffers of the shock-absorbers of the car.

According to the invention the small-size shunting machine consists of a self-moving four-wheeled rotatable support adapted for one-sided engagement beneath and for the lifting of the undercarriage of a railroad car, whereby the shunting machine embraces merely the lower portions of the buffer plates of the car and, for producing the necessary adhesion, just slightly lifts one end of Patented Oct. 29, 1957 the car from the track, and whereby the shunting machine moves the car only with the aid of the operating activities afforded by the construction of the shock-absorbers. For this purpose the buffer-plates of the shock-absorbers loosely rest in pockets of the rotatable support, which pockets are open at the top, so that the butter-plates are elastically moved alongin the direction of travel, but are enabled to freely rotate within certain limits about their principal axis.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification and in which an embodiment of the invention has been shown by way of example. However, I wish to say that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings, but may be changed or modified, so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appending claim.

In the drawings, in which like parts are referred to by the same reference characters,

Fig. 1 is a front view of the shunting machine;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the machine.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the reference character a designates the lower supporting frame of the machine, provided With the wheels b driven in known manner from a motor 0 via the driving shaft d and the chain and pinion drive e. Supported on the supporting frame a is the supporting element 1. The latter is freely rotatably mounted on the supporting frame a, but provided with means for being locked in its position. With the aid of the spindle g the supporting element f can be lifted and lowered. When the spindle g is rotated by means of the hand-Wheel h the two pockets i, which are open on the top, grasp or embrace from below the rotatable buffer-plates k of the spring-pressed buffers k, m, n mounted on the back-wall of the car I to be moved. After this the pressure of the pockets against the buffer plates is increased through additional lifting of the supporting element 1 until the adhesion of the shunting machine is satisfactory and until the wheels take hold at the track.

When the shunting machine is to be transported from one place to another without load, the supporting element f can be locked in position by means of a bolt. It can be pulled or pushed on its four wheels over the ground of factories or stations.

As the supporting element 1 is rotatably mounted on the supporting frame a, and as the buffer-plates are likewise rotatably mounted for rotation about their principal axis and spring-pressed, jamming of the two vehicles is practically impossible.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States:

In a small-size shunting machine for moving railroad cars along on the tracks of factory grounds or the like, the combination with the track and with the rotatably mounted and spring-pressed buffer-plates of the shock absorbers of the car to be moved, of a four-wheeled supporting frame having the distance between its Wheels adapted to the width of the track; driving means mounted on said supporting frame and adapted to move said supporting frame along on the track according to requirements; and a supporting element of arm-like formation centrally mounted and horizontally and rotatably supported on a vertically extending spindle and centrally, horizontally and rotatably mounted by means of said spindle on said supporting frame, said supporting element being adapted for adjustment in height by means of said spindle and provided at its free ends with pocket-like recesses open on the top and adapted to loosely and elastically embrace from below and to bear against lower portions of a pair of buffer-plates of a cooperating pair of shock-absorbers of the car to be moved for the slight lifting of the rear end of the car for the purpose of prosupporting element and the yielding properties of the rotatably mounted and spring-pressed buffer-plates co- 10 operate to absorb the shocks of locomotion on the track and in the curyes of the latter, and whereby the rotatable buffer-plates are enabled to roll in the open recesses.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,327,446 Ortgies Aug. 24, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 388,552 Germany Jan. 15, 1924 281,939 Switzerland July 16, 1952 

